


Amanita Tea

by mickie



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: M/M, Sassy Sherlock, Sherlock is Bored!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 03:16:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13538529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mickie/pseuds/mickie
Summary: Sherlock receives a mysterious package and the adventure begins.





	Amanita Tea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fabricdragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabricdragon/gifts).



> This story is the first installment of a 12 month fanfic challenge. One story will be posted per month. The first prompt was Drabble and I was expected to keep it under 600 words. Yikes! 587. I'm going try and link some, if not all, the prompts into longer stories.

**Amanita Tea**

Sherlock stared at the envelope addressed to him. The handwriting was perfect, curvy, flowy, in a way that he would expect a lover, dressed in lace or black, surrounded by roses, to write. Addressed to me. His mind tried to wrap itself around the concept but he just couldn't deduce or elucidate anything. John had just married Mary so _JohnandMary_ was an irrevocable thing instead of _JohnLovesSherlock_. He frowned and supposed if the package contained an explosive or a poison gas canister then he'd die and not have to endure the nightmarish _JohnandMaryHaveABaby-TimeToBabysitUncleSherlock_ thing so there was clearly no downside to opening it. There was also insatiable curiosity and too much ennui but Sherlock refused to dwell on those.

Using Mycroft's MI5 super secret and important letter opener that he'd _borrowed_ a few weeks ago, he pried open the seal and dumped out the contents of the package. Three things. Sherlock rolled his eyes. This should prove entertaining for, say, ten seconds.

The first item was a pressed rose in a plastic bag. Plastic bags were environmentally unsound and unsustainable he mentally groused at the sender. The rose had a label. _Juliet Rose_. Sherlock set the contents of the package aside and googled it. A very expensive rose that was used for high end weddings. Interesting, pretty, but ultimately useless. He made a note to put it in one of his larger books. Perhaps his copy of Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Plant-Nematode Interactions would be fitting.

The next item was a bar of Strip chocolate from Melt. The note included said "For Me" and had several hearts drawn after it. Sherlock rolled his eyes. He was amenable to chocolate, especially expensive chocolate, but could do without the innuendos. Strip contained sesame. He supposed that was intriguing and proceeded to eat it. Fully dressed.

The last item was a shrivelled, dried mushroom. He eyed it intently. The label said _Amanita muscaria var. Ériu_. Lovely. He accessed his mental files on Kingdom Fungi. Genus Amanita contained about 600 species of agarics, any fungus with a fruiting body that resembles the ordinary mushroom and have a convex or flattened cap with gills on the underside. The genus included some of the most toxic mushrooms found worldwide and was responsible for approximately 95% of the fatalities resulting from mushroom poisoning. The most potent toxin present was α-amanitin. The molecular structure flashed across Sherlock's mind. Such an interesting substance.

 _Amanita muscaria_ , while frequently and erroneously listed as toxic, was, however, edible. Depending on the preparation, it either produced a vague hallucinogenic experience or did nothing whatsoever. Sherlock opened the bag and brought the dried mushroom to his microscope. A thorough and rigorous examination confirmed that it was indeed labeled appropriately.

Pausing, Sherlock went to his laptop and researched the species. There were four subspecies var. alba, var. flavivolvata, var. formosa, and var. regalis. No Ériu, who was the matron goddess of Ireland, variety seemed to exist. He spent another hour studying his sample and comparing it to the known polymorphisms and eventually concluded that it was, indeed, a previously unknown variant.

A wise man would have sent the mushroom to the university for verification and authentication. A bored Sherlock, instead, turned on the kettle, reread the information he'd found on safe ingestion and texted John that he'd be busy for a while so no need to stop by. He ground the mushroom into a fine powder, added hot water, stirred until the powder dissolved, and then drank the tea.


End file.
